Single Ladies
by Anastasia Belle
Summary: Grace and Amy bond about being step sisters. They discuss their high school experiences, mistakes, regrets and families. Will Adrian and Amy finally reconcile over their differences.
1. Chapter 1

**Single Ladies**

Amy Juregens had been living in her own apartment for a month now. It wasn't a huge apartment but it was enough for her and John to live in. Anne helped Amy pay for the condo because from the money she got when selling the house.

Since Amy broke up with Ricky she lived on her own in a two bedroom condo that was big enough for her and John. Amy and Ricky had made fair agreement on sharing John, she was going to take for first half of the week and Ricky would have him the second half of the week.

Amy had grown up a lot over the past couple of months, she realised that the path in life that she'd planned to take didn't work out. During her last year of high school, she had wanted to be set free and she was envious of her two best friends who had no obligations and could do what they want. This was a dream though that was never going to happen for Amy though. She had a baby in high school her life became revolved around her son. It was difficult but it wasn't impossible she had a lot of support from her family and was still going to follow her dream to become a teacher.

Tonight though she didn't have to be responsible, she could just relax and be a teenager. It was Friday night and she was going over to hang out at Grace's guest house to hang out. Amy and Grace had grown a lot closer over the past year; they had bonded and shared their doubts about marriage with their fiancés. They also shared the common bond of being step sisters. Amy never thought that she'd ever grow to accept her father being married Kathleen but somehow Kathleen had made him a much happier and relaxed person. Amy now just wished her mother could find someone who would make her just as happy as her father. Amy also thought about Ashley and her life in Italy. She had recently called Ashley because she felt disconnected from her family. The divorce had affected Amy, but more so Ashley, she was really hurt and that's why she made such snarky comments. Amy had just thought Ashley hated her and that's why she was mean. When Amy found out her sister was hurting just as much as her, she began to empathize with her and two started being nicer to each other. The two sisters just had very different personalities, and that's why they bickered a lot.

When Amy reached Grace's guest house, she noticed that her father's car wasn't there so she figured that her and Grace would be alone tonight. Grace and Amy had grown a lot of the past year; they had bonded a lot over their issues about getting married. As soon as they got engaged they both felt trapped and guilty for realising that they actually didn't want to get married. However both of them didn't deal with their guilt in the best way but now they both just wanted to move forward.

Grace heard car pull up at the drive way and then leaped at the door to open it.

"Amy!" Grace exclaimed in her super cheery voice and then leaned in to give Amy a give.

"Grace! I've been so looking forward to tonight, I've had such a long week and it'll be nice to just relax"

"Yeah me too, come on in and let's get the night started" Grace said as she motioned Amy to come in.

Grace had laid out snacks, movies, nail polish and facial masks for their girls' night in. Amy was surprised at how much effort she had put in to this. Madison and Lauren never really put this much effort when they ever hung out, well Amy actually couldn't remember the last time the three really had a girl's night out. So it was nice to just relax and have a girl's night.

"Wow, all this food looks so good Grace, you've really put a lot of effort into this! Oh and those brownies look amazing. Did you make them?" Amy exclaimed.

"Thanks and no my mom did. It's not really much, Adrian and I used to have these nights all the time. I miss her a lot" Grace said.

"Mmm. Yeah"Amy mumbled as she bit into her brownie.

Grace looked up and gave her a curious look, realising that Amy and Adrian were never really close friends and were more frenemies. However found it easy to be friends with the both of them, she really liked Amy but Adrian was her best friend. "It's okay I understand if you don't miss her that much Amy. You two were never really that close"

"No it's not that I don't like Adrian; I do but you're right we weren't really that close. I mean I think we were kind of there for each other during hard times, but a friendship between us always resulted in a competition of some sort." Amy said casually.

Grace chuckled a little at Amy and then d said "You two had the most ridiculous competitions about who would get married first, have sex first and other petty things. "

Amy laughed at herself thinking back to the time her and Adrian were making some stupid competition between each other outside her house over their relationships with Ricky and Ben. It was quite silly now that Amy reflected on it, talking about marriage and moving in with boyfriends in high school.

"I know it was ridiculous when you put it that way, but I don't know having a baby in high school is a confusing thing. You feel like you've grown up and are much older than your age because you're responsible for this other human being's life but you're actually still a teenager. I remember when I first had John I was such a mess, I was so tired and I said and did all these ridiculous things. I just wanted to normal and do what I want but I soon realised that John was everything to me. "Amy stated.

"Yeah, I remember the perpetual bad mood you were in, it must've been difficult for you. But I think a lot of people really admired you for having a baby and staying in school, that's something to be proud of Amy."

Amy smiled and sincerely thanked her. She hadn't felt proud of herself at the time, she was angry at herself, Ricky, Ben and the world for not understanding how she felt. She looked back at those times remembering when she lashed out at everyone and now she feels so terribly for behaving selfishly.

Grace was silent for a few minutes too, and reflected back on her high school too and she started to laugh.

"Grant high is like a breeding ground for teen pregnancies. I mean it's like our school has a magnet for teens that are pregnant!" Grace exclaimed.

Grace just thought about what she said and then mentally kicked herself in the head, _how could I be so stupid_ she thought. But much too Grace's surprise, Amy burst out into laughter, nearly knocking over the nail polish.

"You're absolutely right, it's ridiculous, ever since I got pregnant there were about three or four other pregnant girls at our school. While most kids in high school are gossiping about who got drunk or stoned on the weekend at Grant it was about who got pregnant or when I'm getting married, or my dad's vasectomy, or me being gay!" Amy exclaimed.

Grace had a guilty look that washed over her face "I'm sorry I was the one who started the rumours about your dad lying about his vasectomy, and you're mom being gay. .."

"Grace, it's not entirely your fault my dad unfortunately has a big mouth, and doesn't always have the best judgement when he tells people things. He's an idiot but he's still my dad. I've just learnt to accept my freak show family, for what it is. Though it would've been nice if the whole school didn't know."

"Yeah my mom is pretty is pretty nuts, look at her she's on her fourth marriage. Maybe she and George is a match made in heaven. My family is a freak show too. I still can't believe my dad was cheating on my mom for all those years and I have a half-brother." Grace said.

Amy chuckled and said "Yeah our families are pretty screwed up. I mean look at me I've been fake married twice. The first time I had sex was with a guy who I'd only known for a day and then I had a baby in high school. Here I am talking about how screwed up my family is and look at me!"

"Hey at least you didn't think you'd killed your dad the first time you'd had sex."

Amy looked down at her plate of food of sadly, at what Grace had just said. She remembered how distraught Grace was about her father's death and Amy wanting to go to the funeral so badly just to get out of the house. Amy suddenly felt at a pang of guilt wash over that when she about that.

"Grace I'm really sorry that must be so hard for you." Amy said softly.

"It's not your fault; I know it wasn't the sex. I was just overwhelmed with guilt because the last conversation I had with my father wasn't a good one. Then Jack ended up cheating on me anyway." Grace said, rolling her eyes.

Amy scoffed and shook her head. Jack had really hurt Grace, and she was angry that he had continually lead Madison on. Then she found out Madison had kissed Jack while he was with Grace. The guy was all over the place with his feelings and Grace was better off without him.

"I'm sorry Grace but you're better off without him. I mean he's a nice guy but he's all over the place, you know? It was the same thing with Madison. Lauren and I were thrilled when she broke up."

"Yeah, I know, I mean I never thought I would be this happy single. I feel so free, like nothing is holding me back. We should make this a no boys' summer or year!"

Amy smirked and chuckled at Grace. Grace was always bouncing around with boyfriends and didn't really know what she wanted. She had a good heart but was a very fickle girl.

"Ah huh Grace just like you promised the last summer to stay away from boys!"

"Hey! You can't talk you've barely been single either. You've gone back and forth with Ben and then Ricky!" Grace explained.

"I know, I haven't made the best decisions over the years. I want to focus on myself and John only. Not a relationship, I think to find out who I am before I can even go into a relationship."

"How are things between you and Ricky? Is it an awkward relationship?"

"It was awkward at first, but now things between us are really good between us. The transition into friendship hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. Ricky is still hurt about everything and I don't blame him, but we have to be friends for John's sake. "

"Do you still love him?" Grace asked.

"Yes I will always love Ricky; he's a wonderful father to our son and a great guy. But I don't know if I'm in love with him. I wish I had said something earlier to him than the day of the wedding but I apologised and I think he understands."

Grace later made Amy raise her glass. Amy gave Grace a strange but just went along with her anyway.

"A toast to us to celebrate an end to high school. I hope college is better to us than high school. I hope that we both succeed in reaching our dreams. Most important I hope that we both learn from the mistakes that we made in high school."

"Cheers to us" Amy exclaimed.

Grace then decided to put the Single ladies song on by Beyoncé. The two girls look ridiculous and out synch when they were doing the dance moves to lyrics but they were enjoying themselves too much to care. They were enjoying themselves so much so, that they didn't even notice George and Kathleen come in. They both just stood there for second, confused by their daughters' behaviour.

"Amy never fails to surprise me" George stated, shaking his head. Kathleen lightly tapped George on the chest and told him to lighten up. Yes their daughters both were rather crazy at times but they were essentially good girls. At that moment George and Kathleen had decided to join in the dancing madness with everyone ending up in hysterics on the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Truce**

Amy had taken John out today; they went to the park and the arcade where John and she played games. It was actually, even though Amy had a lot of homework usually and didn't actually have a lot of quality time with John it was nice just to take him and out and have fun. Even though she was a teenager mother, it doesn't mean her son has to suffer. She watched her son play on the play on the playground and just watched him; he was such a happy little boy. She enjoyed watching her son and playing with him at the arcade she felt guilty about all the times she had resented John because she couldn't be a normal teenager.

While John was playing on the playground Amy read a postcard that she received from Ben.

_To Amy,_

_I visited the coliseum today, and it was amazing, Rome is amazing! I wanted to share this with you because I know how much you love culture. I hope that you can visit Europe one day, you'll love it. I'm going to Greece, Turkey and Croatia with some of my cousins. I'll go back to the real world and start school at Hudson, so I am just having the time of my life now! This trip is just what I needed and I'm glad both of us have been able to move forward in our lives and forget the miseries of high school._

_Love your friend,_

_Ben_

Amy smiled as she read the card, he sounded like he was having the time of his life she couldn't help but feel a twang of jealous, but she knew that one day she would get travel maybe not now, but sometime in the future. But if anyone deserved a break it was Ben and Amy was so happy for him.

"Come on John, Mommy has to go to the grocery store and buy food for dinner so let's go bud" Amy said softly as she approached John. He got a little fussy because he didn't want to leave park but Amy managed to drag him away because he was hungry.

When they arrived at the supermarket, and went through the isles Amy was so busy trying to get everything on her eye on John who was getting restless, that she ended up pushing her trolley into someone. Amy recognised the perfectly manicured nails, and looked and saw that it was Adrian.

"Adrian hi! I'm so sorry, I totally didn't see you and I'm so embarrassed for bumping into you like that." Amy said. Amy's face was slightly red when she saw Adrian because she was embarrassed for crashing into her the way she did.

"Oh no don't worry about Amy, its fine you look you've got your hands full." Adrian said.

"Yeah, well at least it wasn't someone I didn't know that would've been even more awkward. So how's life in New York? How's the school you're going to?"

"Oh, it's great the apartment that Omar and I are in living is just amazing, it looks out onto Central Park. I got accepted into Columbia University and then hopefully I'll go to law school. I'm just here for the weekend because I miss my mom and dad and they've been begging me to visit. " Adrian said proudly.

"Well that's great Adrian I'm so happy things worked out so well for you. You seem really happy and congrats on getting into Columbia!" Amy exclaimed.

"Yeah I really like living in New York, I mean at first I was scared because Omar and I were taking this huge step and he was taking me out of my comfort zone but now I'm glad I did because I needed to let go of the past. I've let my past control me enough and it's time to move forward."

Amy nodded in agreement "Well good for you Adrian after everything you've been through you deserve a fresh start and to be happy. "Said Amy.

"Thanks Amy, you seem to be doing well too. I'm surprised you didn't end up going to New York because you'd been wanting to for months. You practically couldn't wait to jump on the plane and leave John or Ricky. '' Adrian said, and let out chuckle.

Amy just stared at Adrian for bit, she'd gotten used to Adrian's little comments over the years and she gotten better at not letting them get to her. But this time Amy decided she wouldn't keep her mouth shut.

"You know what Adrian, it wasn't like I just decided to get up one morning and want to go to school in New York and not want to marry Ricky. They were all hard decisions for me, I hated that I felt that way, and I'm not going to lie I resented Ricky and John. Ricky probably resented me too sometimes. I know you've been through a lot of hardships in your life more than anyone should have too but I have had a lot of my plate too. Being a teen mom, even with all the support I got was hard, I just wasn't mature enough to be a mother and I resented the fact that I couldn't just do what I wanted without feeling guilty. But that's just life when you're a mom, and I've just accepted that fact." Amy said sternly looking into Adrian's eyes.

Adrian was stunned to say the least because usually people let her get away with what she says especially after Mercy died. It's like people just accepted her to act crazy and get away with all the comments she made because they were afraid of hurting her. However Adrian was proud to see Amy finally have some gumption and stand up for herself.

"I..I'm sorry Amy, I shouldn't judge you because you're right I don't know what's like to be a teen mom, even though my mother was one and I've seen her struggle and I still love her. She's resented me and gone off and she's done selfish things yet I still forgive her. My mother wasn't mature enough to be a mom too, and she barely raised me but at least you've raised John yourself practically with Ricky. John's a very lucky boy. I know I lost my baby and that was a terrible tragedy for me but I've picked up my life again ,and I'm still not the person I want to be, I want to become a better person that she could've been proud of. I want to start by apologizing to you. I made awful remarks about you when you got pregnant with Ricky's baby because I was so jealous, and blamed you when it takes two to make a baby. I'm also sorry for all the remarks I made about your relationship with Ricky, it wasn't my place to and I apologised to Grace but not you so I'm apologising to you now. Ricky gave me a good scolding about it though. I just have to let go of all my resentment towards you, because it'll me to be a kinder person." Adrian said as sincerely as she could, with tears rolling down her eyes.

Amy leaned into hug Adrian. She couldn't believe they were just standing here at the grocery store pouring out their hearts to each other. It was strange that they had these breakdowns in such public places.

"Adrian, look I've said some things to you that I'm not proud of. I should've never called you a slut that was awful of me; I stooped really low when I said that. I was just so jealous and mad at you because there you were with my son and you looked like a family with Ricky, it just infuriated me. "Amy said with tears rolling down her eyes.

"Amy, I'm sorry if you ever felt like I was trying to replace you as John's mother. I was just obsessed with getting close to Ricky and that meant getting closer to John so that we could be a real family one day. It was selfish, you're John's mother and no one can take that away from you." Adrian said.

"Adrian we've both done petty and selfish things throughout high school. We're in college now and we need to not let ourselves get caught up in all that drama. I've also got to get use to women, being in Ricky' life because he'll probably start dating eventually." Amy said rather unenthusiastically.

"Other women like Clementine?"

"Yeah I guess... But I mean I hope not." Amy said hesitantly.

"Yeah I don't really her either, I find her irritating." Adrian said.

"I know she is irritating, she went after Ricky when we were still together and that pissed me off. But at least you don't have to see her around anymore." Amy said.

Adrian just shrugged her shoulders, relived that she wasn't going to be involved in any of that drama. As much as Amy wanted to avoid drama, that girl always had a way of attracting drama and it wasn't her fault really with her crazy family and her being the mother of Ricky Underwood's son there was always bound to be drama in Amy's life.

"Yeah you're right, I would kind love to her see face when she bumps into you at college, and then Ricky would just happen to be there, it would be a hit movie right there "Adrian said.

Amy laughed and shook her head saying "Oh Adrian you just love the drama don't you"

"Hey I would be me, if I didn't love seeing a little drama in everyone's life. Everyone just needs to lighten up and accept that it's a part of life and nothing is a secret, at least in this town" Adrian said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Whatever you say Adrian, look I have to go and it was a uhh nice chatting with you. I hope you enjoy you're weekend. "Said Amy

"Yeah it was nice talking to you so honestly... Amy "Adrian said sincerely.

As Amy was about to walk, she turned and around and stopped to look at Adrian. She realised that Adrian was only here for the weekend, and was probably feeling a little lonely.

"Adrian, if you want, you can come over with me to my condo. I mean I'm just gone feed John, put him to bed and then watch a movie. You can come too?"

"Sure Amy, I would love that, it would be nice having a girls night. It was always a failure for me and Grace we always just ended up with guys." Adrian said.

Amy just giggled "Well that won't happen with me because I'm staying away from men for a while. Also you have Omar; therefore you won't end up with a guy"

"Well you never know Ricky might call me, because he knows I'm in town" Adrian said in a teasingly seductive way.

As they were both walking towards the check outs, Amy turned around and said "I highly doubt it he hasn't had sex with you in a long time he's probably forgotten all about it." Amy said with a smirk on her face.

Adrian's mouth just dropped wide open, and she pointed her finger up; "Let's get one thing straight Juregens. You may have the wholesome, youthful mother thing going for you, but nobody forgets sex with me! "Adrian exclaimed and the ladies in the market all turned around and looked at her disturbingly. Some mothers with young children covered their kids' ears as they just looked at Adrian.

Amy tried to hold back her laughter and pull Adrian away as quickly as possible. Adrian, who was never embarrassed, felt herself turn red and blush. Amy kept teasing her on the way home, and Adrian was just getting more frustrated especially when Amy texted Grace and told her.

"I'm getting you back Juregens! And you better not tell Ricky, or I swear to God you don't know what I'll do to you! Adrian trying to sound as threatening as possible.

"Maybe I will or I won't, I'm sorry if it just slips out" Amy said sarcastically.

"It better not, now let's just go inside and watch the movie and eat." Adrian said rather staunchly.

The two girls continued giggling and made fun of each other throughout the night. Adrian enjoyed just having some plain old girl fun, without her boyfriend for a night.

A/N: I personally don't mind Clementine but I always felt that Amy and Adrian didn't care for her too much.


End file.
